The growth of the Internet has made it possible for content providers to provide content to users anywhere in the world. Users benefit from a tremendous amount of information that is freely available on the Internet. The cost of delivering information and services to users via the Internet is largely subsidized by Internet advertising pursuant to ads delivered to a user pay for the users use of a service or information source. Certain information about a user is generally provided to an advertiser who serves up an ad to the user and the more accurate the user information the more an advertiser will pay to the content provider or web page owner for delivery of the ad.
While the above model works well for consumers who get the free use of Internet based services and information and for businesses who profit from providing valuable services, certain aspects of this model do not suit everybody to the same degree. For example, children who use the Internet might not be accurately characterized and therefore users in this group might be exposed to content or advertising that is not appropriate for them. For the same reason, content providers might also want to know in a more reliable manner when a user is a minor so that they can better regulate content that is sent to this group of users.
Additionally, some users might not want to provide certain information about themselves and might want to be able to better control what information is distributed, in what manner and for how long. Certain content providers also might like to cater to this user group and do so in a secure manner. However, under present protocols a need remains to address these groups and to enable end-users to manage non-standard, diverse and conflicting privacy settings for at least some Internet sources.